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Carnival Freedom Thankgiving 2012

Sail Date:
November 2012

Destination:
Southern Caribbean

Embarkation:
Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades)

This was our 7th Carnival cruise and first over a Holiday period. I was skeptical with 8 ships departing Ft. Lauderdale on Nov. 17th. We stayed at the Ft. Lauderdale Courtyard Marriott airport cruise port. They provide airport pickup and delivery but only cruise port embarkation. We made the mistake of using Star Transportation for debarkation. Don't do that. Waited 1.5 hours to get back to the motel. Just take a cab if your motel is close.

Walked right through Embarkation to our waiting zone. Crowd control and loudspeaker announcements were a little inadequate in the terminal however once we were called we walked right on the ship. Ships crew and service were excellent throughout the cruise. Just DO NOT cut your port departure times close they will get understandably grumpy! We had a 3:30 be on the ship time and our Carnival purchased excursion returned at 3:30 with a 20 minute walk to the ship. The Carnival crew didn't think we were moving fast enough. All ports were great More
first time stops!

Entertainment was excellent with marked improvement over some previous cruises. Understand this could just be the Freedom. Piano bar "Scott" was a frequent stop. Very engaging. Main shows were equally great and entertaining.

Dining room "Your Time" dining was the way to go for us. Only waited past 10 min. one time and received and apology later from the dining room. Food was markedly improved over 4 years ago. Better quality and selections. No real turkey or pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. Did I need it? NO.

Cabin service and cleanliness were also excellent. Our steward would always greet us with a smile and good morning! We would do this cruise again in a heartbeat!! Less

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Cabin review: Carnival Freedom

Port and Shore Excursions

Beach Break

De Palm Island beach was great for the amount of time allowed. However you could not get enough time to do all the activities you paid for, therefor this was not a good value. The island traffic is overcrowded during ship stops which affected how long we were able to stay there. Travel time 2 hours, just took too much away from the beach time. Not worth the money unless you can get there and back quick.

Catamaran tour

Chukki's Catamaran, snorkel and beach experience was great. Our scheduled return time on our tickets for this excursion was 3:30. This was also our on board time with a 4:00 sail. With over 60 on this excursion and no shoes allowed on the catamaran, understandably it might take 20 min. for everyone to get off the catamaran, put their shoes on and walk the 1000+ yards back to the ship. We were yelled at very discouragingly by the Freedom crew for at least the length of the pier. "Carnival" Don't sell me a 3:30 excursion return if everyone is supposed to be on the fricken ship!!!!